Confessions of an HSP: An Airy Workspace

The older I get, the more I hate clutter. I used to be ALL about clutter. PINK clutter on top of it. Ironically kitschy clutter. In fact, I had a collection of neon pink garden gnomes, fake lawn, and disco balls (I don’t know what was wrong with me) for which I actually cleared one entire shelf just so that I could display it in its full glory. Needless to say, every corner and every patch of my wall and every thinkable surface, including the tops of my cupboards, were — if possible — decorated with SOMEthing. Some THING.

As I discussed in “Confessions of an HSP: Decluttering,” I clutter no more. I don’t even know how it happened. Is it possible that people get more sensitive in their twenties already? Is there any HSPs out there who feel that, once they hit their middle to late twenties, they REALLY started being highly sensitive?

In any case, these days, unnecessary stuff that simply sits around shelves and walls and surfaces seriously clouds my mind and has a palpable impact on my overall mood. Yesterday then, in an irresistible vortex of unproductiveness and demotivation, I basically spent the afternoon staring at soothing, minimalistic home decor pinterest boards. It’s like balm for my eyes — and soul!

Wait a minute, I can pimperest!

And after about two hours of that, I finally realized — I could as well be living my own life. As in: why don’t I just get up and revolutionize my workspace instead of staring at a screen, wishing my explosion of a desk would look like one of these super soothing, ultra-clean, airy, wonderfully light work spaces on the virtual dream boards of other people?

So. I wish I had done a before-and-after photo shoot to inspire you guys out there in case you are experiencing similar issues (I keep forgetting this step!), but believe me: the place looked NOTHING like this. In fact, I just realized, practically zero thoughts have thus far gone into my work place in general. It is a mystery to me. Thus, the wall was left unlovingly blank for the sole reason that I never actually thought of putting anything there — but the general messiness of the table definitely made up for the lack of color on the wall. And useless stuff was just sort of piling up that I didn’t know what to do with (I finally trashed it).

This is the result of a mere 40 minutes feat of workspace cleansing, in which I finally ALSO — for instance — threw away that pen I got from my piano teacher around the age of nine (it hasn’t been working for at least a decade). It’s possible! Today! And how amazing this feels! So easy, so effective.

PS: Yes, you may have laughed at the ridiculous picture of misery, my hibiscus George III. He is currently recovering from a tantrum during which, for a reason I still don’t know, he threw off all his leaves. My light therapy lamp is helping him recover in these dark Berlin winter days.

4 thoughts on “Confessions of an HSP: An Airy Workspace”

oh dear, I think we share the same gene pool or something. I think the more we grow into our own, the more we know what we want and don’t want. I discover what I like and stick with that. Just a thought.

and i really love the simplistic theme of your photographs, it really inspired me to use my camera once again. I thought I had to find picturesque landscapes to make it worthwhile, but there’s beauty in everything.

Your space looks so personal and comfy!!!

and ehrmagerddd, you had me cracking at that last paragraph! George throwing a tantrum? LOL. I thought that was INFP stuff, giving inanimate stuff personalities :D

and that light therapy lamp yo. Been wanting to get it for almost two years now. Is it only usable during winter? I think I need to get me one asap…

Heheh, that is so typical. I absolutely understand what you mean with growing into our own. I think we are born and then our task is trying to figure out who the heck we are. Learning to live as well as possible with what we happen to be is perhaps the most rewarding and essential skill in our lives. It is the key to everything.

How cute, thanks for letting me know you got inspired, that always makes my heart jump :) I’d love to see some photos once you have caught some beauty in your everyday life. I am sure it’ll be lovely.

And excuse me, I am practically KNOWN for naming things. George III is a tricky one, he is a bit of a fragile drama queen, but then again he fights so hard to get through the winter, it’s beyond me. My food processor is called Frank, because…. it’s just such a strong name (and my Frank is SUPER strong!). My orchid is called “Orchy Dork” because she, too, felt it was necessary to protest by partly dying in front of my eyes. I’ll spare you the complete list of things I’ve named but know that I already have an entire top-ten Dachshund names just in case my Norwegian decides to give me one one day (my favorite is currently “Schnorkel”). Don’t you do that?

Hehe, well thanks. I think it is in fact the other way around: I’ve always used to be a bit of a clown, but then this mindfulness business got me so serious. Can’t keep that up for long, it seems. I am destined to revert to my silly self.

I hope you did buy those plants. Let me know who and how they are. They change a room so much! If you need name suggestions, send me pictures and you’ll get a whole catalogue.